Limón, Costa Rica · UTC-6 ☆

Limón (Puerto Limón) is Costa Rica’s main port on the Caribbean coast, a city with a distinctly different culture from the Pacific-facing capital San José. The Afro-Caribbean community here descends largely from Jamaican workers brought to build the railway in the late 19th century[3], and the city has its own dialect, cuisine (rice and beans in coconut milk, not the Central American norm), and rhythm. The clock is America/Costa_Rica: UTC-6, year-round, no daylight saving since 1992.

The railway that brought Limón’s population into being is largely non-functional now. The port handles container traffic and banana exports, but the city itself has declined relative to its late 19th-century peak. What remains is the Caribbean character that developed in its own direction from the rest of Costa Rica.

Afro-Caribbean culture and Caribbean rainfall

At 10 degrees north, Limón has consistent daylength close to 12 hours. The Caribbean coast receives significantly more rainfall than the Pacific side, averaging around 3,600 mm per year.[3] The rains fall at their own schedule, paying no attention to the clock.

Costa Rica’s permanent UTC-6 (with no daylight saving) means Limón is consistently in the same timezone as Guatemala City and most of Central America’s Caribbean ports.

9am in Limón is 3pm in London in winter, six hours behind GMT.

Read more about time in Costa Rica →